Trouble is my only friend

I planned to set out Sunday (8th Oct) morning to visit and photograph a family grave in Cerrigydruidion North Wales on behalf of my mother (I dont know why either!) Then over the snowdonia mountains to visit my dad and a sunday roast in Holyhead. I was set to leave about 7.30 am and found the bike had a flat battery. I think this may be a symptom of the alternator belt failure a few months ago. I havn't added anything else that would cause a drain of the battery charge. It maybe that I havn't tightened the belt correctly. It's due a service next month which includes a belt change so I'll get the tech to check it out.

Anyway after charging the battery I set off about half nine , I had about a quarter of a tank of fuel but didn't want to stop too soon in case it hadn't charged enough.

By now I was behind schedule so set off streight to Holyhead with a view to do the Cerrigydruidion run on the way back. I stopped at Chester services on the M56 to fuel up.

I had music on on the way and it wasn't until I stopped I realised the bike sounded like a bag of spanners!, On investigation I found the exhaust can was split on the hanging bracket and some of the baffle material had come out.

I improvised a temporary repair with a few cable ties.

( Click on the pics for a better view )















































I rode on to the next Texaco garage; I knew at the end of the M56; which is about 8 miles or so. When I got there the can was red hot and I didn't have much confidence in the cable ties lasting so rang my Dad to call off the visit.

I went back home and had a better look. Luckily I have the original BMW Can but couldn't get the clamp bolt off as it had seized due to the high temperatures.

I strapped the BMW can on the back and took a steady ride over to Niel's house as I had lent him my chordless Dremmel (which I thought I could cut off the nut with) The ties had melted off by the time I got there and the hole was bigger.

I tried removing the bolt with a longer ratchet and a good dose of penetrating fluid but once more the devil farts in my face. The result being I sheared the bolt off!

The can took some getting off but I managed it and fitted the standatd can with only the footrest bolt holding it in place. The clamp where the bolt sheared off is pretty stable as the can sleaves over the pipe by a few inches.

This is the state of the Remus can once the ties had come off , most of the baffle material made a bid for freedom on the M6.















So there it is , The bike is in for service next week so hopefully I can sort things out . I will have a mooch about on the internet to see if I can get a replacement can sleeve and baffle material , I may be able to repair / refurb it.

New Motorbike boots

Since I bought the GS in Jan 2004 I have used Magnum pro combat boots on the bike. They don't have any armour in but are totally waterproof and are as comfortable as slippers. Over the last 6 months the soles have split and the left heel has lost it's content and collapsed with the right one on it's way. To be fair I have worn them 7 days a week all day , every day since the day I bought them so they have served me well.

Concious of safety, last year I bought a pair of bike boots at the Rossendale Bike show. During the day whilst getting of a sloping carpark I dropped the bike on its side right in front of a pub full of people !!

Anyway on the way home we stopped at a service station and decided to try the boots on. As I was coming of the junction for home I was struggling to change gerr. I couldn't change up out of second an stalled at a set of lights.

I got off the bike thinking I gad damaget the gear peg in the fall but couldn't see anything obvious. I have the same problem on rest of the way home .

I realised it was the new boots and as they were very rigid compared to the Magnums. I persivered for a couple of rides but couldn't get on with them so I gave them away to a mate.

I have been keeping an eye out for something suitable and was directed by good reports and recommendations; on the www.ukgser.com site, about British boot maker wwww.altberg.co.uk. They are based in Richmond in North Yorkshire. They make boots for the police , military etc and have a range of Motorcycle boots.

I took a ride up there and tried a few pairs on and decided to stay with the combat style boot but with the motorbike protection.The boot name is the Bandog.I ordered a pair but they had a 6-8 week delivery time as they are made to order. I also requested the thicker sole to give me a bit more of a sure foot as I am a bit of a short arse. The staff were very knowledgeable and overall I was impressed with the service

Anyway I got a call to say they were ready and scooted up there last weekend. The weather was pretty bad but there are some great roads up there.

These are the boots,







They were comfortable straight away so I decided to wear them home. The guy in the shop took them into the workshop and gave them a coat of wax , you also get a tin with the boots.

I asked him if I could leave my old boots for the bin as they were knackered.

Whilst I was outside getting geared up the same guy came out and put the boots on the the gardeners bonfire !!!! A symbolic end to old friends


The Funeral Pyre ! ( The pic's not great , I took it with my phone )



The boots felt good from the off on the way home and are definitely waterproof as it absolutely hammered it down on the motorway.

250 mile round trip . £ 150 for the boots

The Big Chill Festival 2006

CLICK THE PHOTO'S TO ENLARGE

A few months ago in the small hours I heard what sounded like an old black traditional blues player on the Charlie Gillet show. The next day I did a web search and found Seasick Steve. White!, Alive! and soon to be playing in the uk.



So I bought a ticket for the Big Chill Festival. I hadn't heard of it before but I liked the sound of it. The bad news was I didn't take the bike. I had e-mailed the festival but I could't take the bike into the camping area and didn't fancy leaving it a mile away in the field carpark. In hindsight next year I will park next to the check in area which is floodlit & manned 24 hrs a day.

At the check in area your'e given a bright pink wristband - a sort of passport that lets you about the place.

This is my arm by the way !!



Miles of carparking , easy to lose sight of your bike




I lugged my tent & shit about a mile to the camping area and pissed about for 40 minutes trying to put the tent up in the dark, I couldn't tell if it was inside out back to front or what. My head torch only shone a small pool of light in the middle of the whole mess . At this point , being able to hear the festival in full swing in the background I stuffed the whole lot back in the bag and lugged it all back to the car ( where I came back at 2am to sleep ) I must of lost 10lbs.

I got on site proper at about 11pm , and spent the next 3 hours just wandering around and taking it all in.









I slept pretty well in the car and was back in the festival at about 10 am. I hung about the Southern Comfort stage where Seasick Steve was due to play at 1pm and cought a glimps of the main man.

Stick with it there's a small camera movie and link at the bottom of the page!




The first act I wanted to see was David McAlmont( who I know from McAlmont & Butler who I really like ) on the Castle stage at 12 pm which meant I could only catch about half an hour.



In the end I was disapointed as he sang a set of covers , Sinatra etc etc. So I pissed off about 12.15.

I set off back to the Southern Comfort stage and managed to speek to a girl who was messing about the back of the stage.She went off round the back stage and came back with Steve himself. He signed my programme " Dave , you da man , Seasick "

We spoke for about half an hour about acoustic blues and that he was going to play some electric to keep the youngsters happy, about motorbikes ( He has an old Indian !) and various gigs he was due to play . I cant make the next one in Scotland but will try to get to Belfast end of October.

He was totally genuine and thanked me for buying his cd and posed for a pic with me allthough I had my eyes closed ! ( I'll have to photoshop some in later ! )


The bullet proof vest thing I've got on is a bike specific rucksack

Anyway the show kicked off at just gone 1pm a bit slow at first with people not really knowing what to expect, just one guy and a small amp.






The Famous Mississipi Drum Machine, complete with Steve's old Harley number plate.







A few songs in Steve climbed over the barrier to terrorize the crowd and the laggers at the back on the beer tables.











Pretty soon the crowd got going and shoved up close to the stage







Show over , Cd's sold out and autographs and handshakes for the crowd,





Small clip of Steve doing his stuff, unbelievably on his "3 string trance" guitar, note the "mississipi drum machine" he's stompin on. The clip should play on Firefox & IE6 but is not supported on Opera.

You may need Macromedia Flashplayer to make it work. Here:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

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Video for CHEAP

http://www.groovyentertainment.com/seasickstevecheap.html

Buy the current album and the new one soon here :-

http://www.seasicksteve.com

Well, that was pretty much it for me , the rest of the festival was just as advertised , a big chill. Loads of fantastic food of every type anD loads of stuff going on . I stayed until 8am Sunday and took the long wooded lane back to the car & home.

Kelso BMF Bike show - 2006

Annual trip to Kelso on Sunday 17th July 2006.

Kelso is a small bike show run by the BMF . In past years it has been a 1 dayer but this year it has grown to 2 days , with bands etc for overnight campers etc.


Mileage

Trip start 36208
Trip end 36590

Total mileage 382

I set off from Manchester about 8am and arrived at almost 11am

The bike show is probably about a 10th of the show size at Peterbrough but the ride up the A7 is worth it.

















Arriving on site , you know your in Scotland when you see a kilted marshal! He's probably rented in as token generic scotsman.

















Bike park

















There are probably a couple of dozen trade stalls to mooch about in .....
















Some unusual bikes at the show.. like this reliant engined trike with a steering wheel !!??

































The www.ukgser.com lads and lasses had a stall on site , I bought a couple of the site stickers to put on my bike as the last one got jet washed off. Nice to have a snoop at other GS's and check out the gadgets & bling.

















Hardcore Round the World GS.































Apart from the obligatory Scottosh pipe band the entertainment came in the form of a stunt bi-plane show and a MX jump team giving it Big air ..














Talking of entertainment, one of the biker babes to drool over..

















I went around the stalls about 3 times and saw all I wanted to so I left about 3pm ish

Pic of the river in Howick (I think ) on the way home













Anyway .. I enjoyed it , might even camp next year and visit the Wallace monument.